Never
by Bellatlas
Summary: Nick sees a muzzled criminal being led into the police department, and with awful memories of being muzzled still vivid in his mind, decides to have a chat with him.
The police department is a _...busy_ place, to put it lightly.

'Round the clock, there's always something going on: officers coming in and out, animals filing complaints, and yes, sometimes criminals being booked. And sometimes, these criminals make quite a ruckus.

This is one of those times.

Throughout the entire dome-shaped lobby, loud snarling can be heard, violently tearing through all of the other normal chatter and noise.

Nick, on his way out after a long and hard day of work and quite anxious to get back home, stops and stares, watching the scene play out.

In some ways, it's his job to watch, in case the officer leading the criminal away needs help (at least, that's what he tells himself), but in reality, he and many of the other officers are just watching for the sake of watching. Besides, the officer, a large rhino, seems to have the whole situation under control. The criminal is a long-limbed maned wolf, looking much like Nick himself… just bigger. A teen, from the looks of it.

The maned wolf backpedals and lurches from side to side as the officer leads him to the holding areas, but he's no match for the rhino's massive strength.

At this point, most of the officers have moved on, either coming in for a shift or leaving. Nick continues to stare, though, unable to peel his eyes off of the muzzle they have the teen in. It's not the same cage-like one he was forced into as a kid. This one is worse- a thick black fabric one that doesn't just put a barrier around your mouth, like his did, but straps your jaws together.

Nick remembers that muzzle from all those years ago as if the incident had just happened- how it felt like he couldn't even breathe, how the straps left welts on his skin, how he could barely even swallow, nearly choking on his own spit.

This kid must be so much worse off.

He reaches his paw up to his own snout, the pads underneath his claws ghosting over where a muzzle would go, and swallows hard.

"Ready to go?" Judy asks, coming up behind him.

Nick doesn't reply, and Judy casts her eyes down to where Nick is looking, immediately realizing what the problem is.

"Oh, Nick," she whispers sympathetically, reaching up to pat his paw. "Come on, let's get you out of here. There's nothing we can do."

But Nick stays rooted to the tile floor, eyes wide.

"Nick? Come on," Judy urges softly. She knows everything the muzzle symbolizes for him, all of the memories that it brings back. "He'll be fine. You know nobody here would ever hurt him."

But, Judy's wrong. The wolf is most certainly _not_ fine. While the animals of Zootopia may be evolved, it's still only the canines that can read into another canine's whines and growls- read _deeply_ into them, and right now, the yelps and growls coming from the young wolf radiate fear… and pain.

Soon enough, though, the wolf is successfully led away into the holding area, out of sight. Judy's ears are perked up in the direction that the teen was just led off to, twitching as she can probably still hear the scuffle of the rhino trying to shove the teen into a cell.

"Ready to go?" She asks slowly, tentatively, giving a light tug on his paw.

Nick takes a step towards the door, and then stops.

"Uh… one second. There's, uh, there's something that I need to do first."

Nick steps away, pulling his paw out of Judy's and sets off for the holding area.

Judy worriedly follows behind, a few paces back, and stops nick at the door to the cells.

"Nick?" She asks. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just gonna go talk to him. That's all." He thinks that she's going to stop him for a moment, but after a moment, she nods slowly.

"Want me to come with you?" She asks.

"No." He draws his arms in on himself. "I think I want to talk to him by myself."

"Okay." Judy's eyebrows furrow in concern and her nose twitches, but she nods. "I have my radio on me if you need me."

"Thanks, Carrots," he says with a smirk, finally pushing the door open. Judy cranes her neck to watch him as he walks in, but the door swiftly swings shut, blocking her view.

Nick braces himself for what he might see, the wolf struggling to get his muzzle off, perhaps, or trying to break out, but instead, he's just sitting there on a bench, slumped over and utterly defeated, the only one in his cell.

The handcuffs have been taken off, but the muzzle remains on. Nick watches as the kid's chest heaves slightly, letting out small whimpers so high pitched that most animals wouldn't be able to make them out. Even Nick is having trouble hearing them.

"Hey there, Buddy." The wolf glances up at him, and his breaths speed, pupils constricting in fear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down." Nick holds his paws up. "I'm not here to hurt you." He pulls off his reflective shades so that they can make eye contact. He knows he can look a bit intimidating with them on.

"Here." He swipes his ID badge to open up the door to the cell. The wolf doesn't make a break for it, which, Nick thinks, is reason enough to award him with a muzzle-free snout.

"Turn around. Let me get that muzzle off of you."

The wolf looks at him curiously for a moment, seeming to size Nick up, but eventually turns away and lets Nick undo the intricate series of clasps along the back of his head. Finally, the muzzle falls into the wolf's lap, who quickly brushes it off onto the bench next to him as if it were poison.

"Feel better?" Nick asks.

The teen nods, coughing and then opening his mouth wide, stretching his aching jaw muscles out.

"Thank you," he says, rubbing the spot on his neck where the muzzle had been rubbing.

"Ah, not a problem," Nick shrugs. "What's your name?"

"Manny," he replies.

"What'd you do to get in here, Manny?"

The wolf shrinks away, squinting at Nick.

"Don't worry," Nick assures, waving a paw through the air, "I'm not interrogating you. This is all off the record. I'm just curious. You were making quite a scene out there."

Manny seems to relax a little bit, but still remains tense, cringing at the mention of his entrance.

"I… I sorta broke into my school." He casts his eyes down, refusing to make eye contact with Nick.

Nick lets out a low whistle. "Yeah, that'll certainly get you put in here… School can't be _that_ bad, can it?" It's a joke, but the wolf doesn't show any signs of being amused.

"It's not, really."

Nick raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Then why were you trying to break in?"

"Was trying to change a grade."

Nick looks all around the prison cell- cold cement walls and even colder iron bars. "All this for a grade?"

"I know it's stupid." Manny covers his face with his paws. "I just didn't want to be kicked off of my team because of this. Didn't want anybody to find out." He suddenly lifts his eyes away from his paws and shrugs off his letterman jacket- purple and gold with delicate stitching across it.

Nick frowned at it. Manny undoubtedly saw it as everything he had worked for, about to slip through his paws. For some reason, it reminds him of his Junior Ranger Scouts uniform, but he can't exactly figure out why.

"It's all gone," Manny whispers.

Nick sighs and puts a paw on his back. Already, the kid is a good three feet taller than him, but since he's slumped so far over, they're almost eye to eye.

"Hey, I know it seems like your life is over, but trust me when I say that it's not."

"It is."

"It's _not._ You can build a lot from just a little bit, I promise."

"There's no _point_ now, though. It's too late. Everyone will know about this, I won't get into a good school-" The kid falls into a silence, mouth still open, but at a loss for words. It seems as though only now are the repercussions of his actions finally sinking in.

"Hey. Look at me."

Manny lets out an indignant huff.

"I mean it. _Look_ at me."

Finally, the wolf raises his head to lock eyes with the fox.

"It's never too late to turn things around, okay?"

Manny nods.  
"No, I need you to say it. _Okay?"_

"Okay," he says, taking a deep breath and seeming to calm down for the first time since Nick first saw him.

"There you go. Deep breath." Nick pats his back.

There's a click suddenly, and the door to the holding cells swings open. Judy stands in the middle of the doorway, two large maned wolves with stern and worried faces standing right behind her, the kids parents, undoubtedly. Manny tensing and scooting back confirms his suspicion.

"Ah, here you two are," Judy says softly, leading the two parents to the cell where Nick and their son sit, opening the door.

Nick steps out to join her, but not before giving the teen's shoulder one last squeeze and repeating " _Never."_

Manny gives him a nod, and that's the last Nick sees of him, deciding to give his family some privacy.

Once outside, though, he's stopped in his tracks by two small, furry arms squeezing his waist. Nick nearly trips over Judy as she hugs him, but hugs her back anyway.

"What's this for?" He chuckles.

When Judy steps away and looks up at him, there's a film of tears lining the bottom of her purple eyes.

"You okay, Carrots?"

"Yeah." Judy wipes her eyes and sniffs. "I'm sorry, but I listened in on that whole thing back there."

"I figured."

"Nick, you are a _great_ cop. Better than you know."

"No better than you," Nick assures with a smile.

"No. No, Nick, what you did back there? That's what _every_ cop should aspire to be like. You _listened_ to him. Even out on the field, you… you talk people down rather than just slapping a pair of handcuffs on them like everyone else."

"It's really not a big deal." Nick smiles at how teary-eyed she's getting over this.

"It _is,_ though." She takes a deep breath, which seems to finally calm her down and keep the tears from spilling over. "I- I'm just glad you're my partner."

Nick wraps an arm around her shoulder. "You and me both."

The thing is, though, Nick _does_ realize how big a deal what he did is. Once, he had led a life that he's still not particularly proud of or even comfortable admitting, too. And a certain sly bunny had charged into his life and shown him that it was never too late to make something of himself. He's glad he was given the opportunity to pass that lesson on to someone else, because Judy showing him (or rather, pushing him) onto the right path is something that he will _never_ stop being grateful for.

* * *

A/N: If you've never seen a maned wolf before, you _have_ to look up some pictures of them. They're one of the coolest animals I've ever seen. (They kinda look like a mixture between a deer and fox).

Thanks for reading! If you have the time, any reviews would be much appreciated! ;)


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